Present Climate Conditions

From Rain to Blizzard: January 23-25, 2010

An evolving storm system area brought sloppy weather across Minnesota from January 23-25, 2010. Rain, at times mixed with snow fell over much of central and southern Minnesota on Saturday, January 23rd. St. Cloud set a daily precipitation record on January 23rd of .50 inches, breaking the old record of .27 inches set in 1949.

Northern Minnesota saw more snow than rain that continued right through Monday, January 25th. Windswept snow then spread southward across the state on January 25, prompting blizzard warnings from the Red River Valley to Albert Lea. I-90 was closed from I-35 to the South Dakota border from late in the day of the 25th to the morning of the 26th. In addition, Highway 71 was closed from Willmar to the Iowa boarder due to white out conditions on January 25th. The blizzard conditions were caused by a strengthening area of low pressure over Lake Superior. Wind gusts to 58mph were reported at Morris at 10am, with visibilities of 1/4 mile or less. The heaviest snow fell over northern Minnesota with the highest total reported of 19 inches 20 WNW of Grand Marais. Duluth saw 9.9 inches of snow, Embarrass saw 8 inches of snow and International Falls reported 7.7 inches of snow. Through noon, the Twin Cities International Airport reported .7 (seven-tenths) of an inch.